Breast screening awareness low amongst Chinese women in NZ

Chinese women in New Zealand have low
levels of awareness about the national breast screening
programme and limited engagement with preventative primary
care services, according to research published in the June
edition of the Journal of Primary Health Care.

The
study is one of the first attempts to identify factors
affecting the understanding of, and access to, breast
screening and breast cancer services by Chinese women.
Breast cancer is the most prevalent female cancer in New
Zealand and currently accounts for more than a quarter of
all cancer diagnoses in women, and although Asian women in
New Zealand have a lower rate of breast cancer registrations
than the New Zealand population as a whole, they also have a
lower uptake of mammography screening at 57 percent versus
69 percent.

The study found that while primary care
providers are obvious sources of information about breast
screening, not all migrant women are registered with a GP,
and the preventive role of primary care providers is not
well recognised.

Communication was repeatedly raised as
the key issue when seeing a doctor in New Zealand, as was a
limited understanding about Chinese perceptions of ill
health and traditional Chinese medicine by New Zealand
health professionals. A Chinese-speaking GP was preferred by
most participants if available, not just for the language,
but also for a ‘shared philosophy’ in relation to
health.

The research has found that addressing
communication barriers for Chinese migrant women has the
potential to raise awareness about breast cancer and breast
health, and to increase successful participation in breast
cancer screening. The study recommends that health
professionals working in primary and secondary care services
make greater use of Chinese-language resources to assist
migrant Chinese women to engage with and understand the role
of primary care providers. The study also calls for a better
understanding about Chinese perceptions of ill-heath,
including complementary use of traditional Chinese medicine.

The research paper, called ‘Breast cancer and
breast screening: perceptions of Chinese migrant women
living in New Zealand’, has been published in the June
issue of the Journal of Primary Health Care, which is
on the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners’
website at: www.rnzcgp.org.nz/journal-of-primary-health-care.

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